My life has actually been incredibly busy lately. Even though everything's starting to die down, I really do want to take some time out and just devote it to the things that I'll remember, and the things that really matter more than anything in life.
For example, I'm going to try and take a big, fat chunk of one day this Spring Break and have all my buddies that aren't in some tropical paradise over to do somethin. We could all play football, swim, watch a bunch of funny/stupid/old/serious movies, or we could spend a solid twenty consecutive hours on beathing a really old N64 game that none of us have played in a really long time. I always have liked having people over, and I never get the chance to spend time with the people that matter most, or that I want to spend time with the most.
I want to learn how to speak Greek. Either that, or just learn the Greek Language. I honestly have NO idea why, but since I was a little kid, the Greek roots of words and the Greek mythologies have always fascinated me, and it'd be pretty cool to set aside some time for that.
I want to learn to play the piano really well, or I want to pick up the guitar. That way, when I want to sing a song, I just learn how to play it really quickly, and I don't have to sing in my wail of a voice without any music to give me security. Plus, it's pretty fun being able to play your friends' favorite songs and sing along with 'em simply for the fun of it.
I want to spend some quality bonding time with my parents. With school at the helm and my personal life close behind, I feel like they're always drawing the short end of the stick. Even though they can give me heck sometimes, I'll always love 'em to death. I don't care if it's playing a game of ping pong (which I would DEFINITELY beast), or if it's taking 'em out to eat sometime, just the two of us - they deserve a lot more from me than I can give 'em, so I'd really like to show them the appreciation they've earned sometime.
I want to get closer to God. I never seem to be able to find the time to read the Word, make it to Wednesday night worship, or any of that kind of stuff. God is the only thing that is guranteed to be there when it's all said and done, and he's definitely the most loving presence there is. Why don't I just skip that one club meeting, or one study session, and just praise God for an hour? He'll surely make some time for me to catch up; my love for God is what he's probably wanting more.
That's just to name a few! Geez.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Teleportation
Why are all of my blogs realizations or questions, in some fashion? I wonder.
While watching The Prestige, a movie with Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman, there comes a part where a man teleports himself across the room. A thought occurred to me, that I was rather proud of: teleportation requires all information, matter, or other material/such be transported from one location to another EXACTLY THE WAY IT WAS IN THE "PRESENT". Therefore, if humans were to be teleported from one place to another (a phenomenon which I believe to be entirely impossible, yet would be very intruigued to learn of its success), the brain would have to be exactly the way as it was once transported. BUT, , once the brain were transported, the resulting teleported person would not retain the same consciousness; in other words, you would not live through the teleportation. An exact clone of you in the same mindset and everything that you had the moment you teleported would result wherever your copy is now, but you yourself would die, and your consciousness would fail, being lost forever. Therefore, teleportation may in fact be possible, but it isn't possible for subjects with a consciousness to "live" through the process, however theoretical the field is.
While watching The Prestige, a movie with Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson and Hugh Jackman, there comes a part where a man teleports himself across the room. A thought occurred to me, that I was rather proud of: teleportation requires all information, matter, or other material/such be transported from one location to another EXACTLY THE WAY IT WAS IN THE "PRESENT". Therefore, if humans were to be teleported from one place to another (a phenomenon which I believe to be entirely impossible, yet would be very intruigued to learn of its success), the brain would have to be exactly the way as it was once transported. BUT, , once the brain were transported, the resulting teleported person would not retain the same consciousness; in other words, you would not live through the teleportation. An exact clone of you in the same mindset and everything that you had the moment you teleported would result wherever your copy is now, but you yourself would die, and your consciousness would fail, being lost forever. Therefore, teleportation may in fact be possible, but it isn't possible for subjects with a consciousness to "live" through the process, however theoretical the field is.
Equal or Not?
I stumbled across an apparently-classic mathematical discrepancy, and decided to share the question along with my attempt at a logical solution/response.
"Is the decimal 0.999..., where there are an infinite number of 9's, equal to 1?"
Along with the question, I saw countless proofs, counterproofs, and and everything inbetween on the subject. My personal opinion is that the prior is an improperly-expressed equivalent of the latter. Given that 1/9 = 0.111..., multiplying the fraction by nine would give us 9/9, or 1. But, multiplying the decimal by 9 simply multiplies all the individual digits by 9, giving us the ambiguous 0.999... . Technically, they should yield the same value, yet the decimal is not the same as 1. 0.111... is a decimal APPROXIMATION for 1/9. Multiplying either the fraction or decimal representation of said fraction will yield 1, not 0.999... . On another point, try and find me a number between 0.999..., where there are an infinite number of 9's, and 1. There isn't one, because they're the same number: 1.
"Is the decimal 0.999..., where there are an infinite number of 9's, equal to 1?"
Along with the question, I saw countless proofs, counterproofs, and and everything inbetween on the subject. My personal opinion is that the prior is an improperly-expressed equivalent of the latter. Given that 1/9 = 0.111..., multiplying the fraction by nine would give us 9/9, or 1. But, multiplying the decimal by 9 simply multiplies all the individual digits by 9, giving us the ambiguous 0.999... . Technically, they should yield the same value, yet the decimal is not the same as 1. 0.111... is a decimal APPROXIMATION for 1/9. Multiplying either the fraction or decimal representation of said fraction will yield 1, not 0.999... . On another point, try and find me a number between 0.999..., where there are an infinite number of 9's, and 1. There isn't one, because they're the same number: 1.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Lefties
In the middle of class today, I just decided to start writing with my left hand. This has proved remarkably difficult, even after prolonged attempts; you see, I've realized something that I never fully appreciated the lack of, and have never had to concern myself with.
When you're writing with your left hand, everything isn't just backwards. That would make things marginally easier, but it's still not the case. Writing characters with your left hand takes an entirely unique motion and action in itself for EACH ONE. As I'm used to my small, neat, quick writing, I'm not entirely comfortable with big, sloppy, efforted penmanship. The level of complexity and difficulty of said task is so unique and vast, it's definitely the base comparison for learning something entirely exotic. To TRY to equate such a sensation with anything else, I'd have to suffice with "Try driving with your left foot instead of your right on an automatic transmission", yet this is basically and identical concept, therefore not being foreign from training your left hand at all.
When you're writing with your left hand, everything isn't just backwards. That would make things marginally easier, but it's still not the case. Writing characters with your left hand takes an entirely unique motion and action in itself for EACH ONE. As I'm used to my small, neat, quick writing, I'm not entirely comfortable with big, sloppy, efforted penmanship. The level of complexity and difficulty of said task is so unique and vast, it's definitely the base comparison for learning something entirely exotic. To TRY to equate such a sensation with anything else, I'd have to suffice with "Try driving with your left foot instead of your right on an automatic transmission", yet this is basically and identical concept, therefore not being foreign from training your left hand at all.
Winter
Whenever I think of winter, I'm always excited and fascinated. Weather this time of year is definitely my favorite; with all of the snow, the cool air, no bugs, and all that, it's great. Who doesn't love sledding down a humongous hill with a handful of people and gliding along as if nothing in the world can stop you? Well, I sure love it. Whatever it is about this time of year that gets me, I don't really care - I just sit back, relax, and enjoy. Wait until summer comes around, and I'll be whining like a four-year-old on a tantrum.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Trademarks
One of the kids in my section in Marching Band this year, Nathan, always said a few, random phrases in the middle of practice, and everybody either was really annoyed or thought it was hilarious; most of us switched sides quite often. I'd hear him yell "SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS!!" at the top of his lungs when he was excited, have never approached that amount of US currency the same way, and probably never will. Every time I think of a broken laptop screen, I just start to laugh. It costs $600.
He also tended to tell Mr. Gregory that "you look like a rockstar up there!" every time he'd see him up on the Band Tower at practice. Every time. It was great, but Mr. G eventually got fed up with it and just stopped putting up with it. "YEEE-HAAWW, ride' em COWBOY!!!" was ejected rather often, too, when everybody was excited or cheering. I hate to talk about it, because I don't want to seem like I'm making fun of him (he was autistic, limiting him to several repeated phrases of excitement), but I always think of him when I hear any of those words involved. Trademarks of Nathan Burkes.
He also tended to tell Mr. Gregory that "you look like a rockstar up there!" every time he'd see him up on the Band Tower at practice. Every time. It was great, but Mr. G eventually got fed up with it and just stopped putting up with it. "YEEE-HAAWW, ride' em COWBOY!!!" was ejected rather often, too, when everybody was excited or cheering. I hate to talk about it, because I don't want to seem like I'm making fun of him (he was autistic, limiting him to several repeated phrases of excitement), but I always think of him when I hear any of those words involved. Trademarks of Nathan Burkes.
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